Democracy Index

This is the 12th edition of the Democracy Index, which began in 2006, and it records how global democracy fared in
2019. The Economist Intelligence Unit’s measure of democracy, almost one-half (48.4%) of the world’s population live in a
democracy of some sort, although only 5.7% reside in a "full democracy", down from 8.9% in 2015 as a result of the US
being demoted from a "full democracy" to a "flawed democracy" in 2016. More than one-third of the world’s population live
under authoritarian rule, with a large share being in China.

According to the 2019 Democracy Index, 76 of the 167 countries covered by the model, or 45.5% of all countries, can be
considered to be democracies. The number of "full democracies" increased to 22 in 2019, up from 20 in 2018, as Chile,
France and Portugal joined the top-ranked countries (those scoring more than 8.00), while Malta was relegated to the
"flawed democracy" category. The number of "flawed democracies" fell by one to 54 in 2019. 54 are "authoritarian regimes",
up from 52 in 2018, and 37 are classified as "hybrid regimes", down from 39 in 2018.

In the 2019 Democracy Index the average global score for democracy fell from 5.48 in 2018 to 5.44 (on a scale of 0-10).
This is the worst average global score since the index was first produced in 2006. Countries in western Europe occupy seven
of the top ten places in the global democracy ranking, including the top three spots, and the region boasts the largest
number of "full democracies" of anywhere in the world, with a total of 15. There are 3 "full democracy" countries in Latin
America, two in Australasia (but no Asian ones) one each in North America and Africa.

Norway is at top, with a score of 9.87 (on a scale of 0-10), and North Korea was at the bottom of the global
rankings, with a score of 1.08. In 2019 some 68 countries experienced a decline in their total score compared with 2018, but
almost as many (65) recorded an improvement. The other 34 stagnated, with their scores remaining unchanged compared with 2018.
Some of the more notable moves up and down the rankings were recorded by Thailand, which registered the biggest improvement
in score and ranking, and by China, which registered the greatest decline. Following the first election since the military
coup in 2014, Thailand’s score improved by 1.69 points and it moved up 38 places in the rankings, from a "hybrid regime" to
a "flawed democracy". China’s regression resulted in a decline in score of 1.06 points and a fall of 23 places down the
rankings.

The Democracy Index is based on five categories: electoral process and pluralism; the functioning of government;
political participation; political culture; and civil liberties. Based on its scores on a range of indicators within
these categories, each country is then itself classified as one of four types of regime: "full democracy", "flawed
democracy", "hybrid regime" or "authoritarian regime".